Post-Holiday Round Up

What to do after a fabulous vacation at the beach? 

First, you start by coping with the cold that greets you when you get back.

Then, you bust out some holiday presents. Here, Mia and Zoe are doing an archaeological dig for gem stones. Way more of a mess than I could have anticipated, but worth it.

Next up, baking and painting holiday cookies. Just because December is past doesn't mean that we can't keep the cheer going.

Finally taking out the fancy braided beach vacation hair-dos. It took as long to unbraid the hair as it did to braid it.

Aggressively adoring Oliver is always good for an activity.

Getting back in the swing of basketball season. Watching Zoe play with Coach Carlin for extra company.

And, finally, lose a few more teeth. Why not? We've got time on our hands.

Climb Zone

We discovered a (new to us) climbing facility in Maryland recently, and our whole family has fallen in love with this place. It's owned by an Australian who has designed the large open space to be as approachable as possible. They sell snacks at reasonable prices and you can bring food in too. There are moon bounces available at no extra charge. You can climb for just about as long as you like and there are lots of helpful people around if you need them. But, best of all, the climbing is fun, the surfaces are entertaining, and all members of our family can climb independently. Here are a few photos from a recent visit.

Sophie (left) and Zoe (right)

Sophie

Mia

Mom

Mia - Seven Years Old

Happy 7th birthday Mia! This has been a fun year to watch you grow and develop! You are losing teeth right and left (including your very cool split tooth).  You are honing in on the activities that you really like. Basketball is #1 on your list at the moment. You are strong at school and especially enjoy math.  There is a sweet group of kids in your class, and one of them is also a big sports fan. You carry a football to and from school every day to play with him. But most importantly, you have the kindest heart. You write love notes to us and tell us how much you love us. The teachers send home notes to let us know how you helped out a new student, shared, or assisted in the class room. You are both provocative and a risk taker when you want to be, and also eager to please and incredibly kind-hearted.

You started your birthday weekend with a treat at school with your classmates. We made chocolate covered strawberries to share, and the kids treated them like a science experiment, testing if the white or dark chocolate tasted better, peeling the chocolate away from the berries to see what pattern they made, etc. I think it took you 30 minutes to eat two strawberries.

The next day, we celebrated with a pool party at a community center with an indoor water park. You were completely in your element. You know we were having fun because we don't have a single picture of everyone in the pool. 

I made a pool cake which ended up being an arts and crafts project. The pool part was Jell-O. In general, I don't think blue Jell-O should be allowed to be called food, but it worked well here.

Sunday was the big day. You have been counting down for this day, and you couldn't have been more excited for it to arrive. 

You started your morning with birthday snuggles, and then it was off to breakfast on your special red plate and presents.   

Shortly after I took this photo, I was looking out the window in the backyard and saw you, still in your snorkel gear, playing with your new basketball. Later that day, you were begging to take your new bike out for a spin. Never mind that it was below freezing with a chance of snow/rain and ice on the ground. You were ready to go, and seriously excited!

Dinner was Cheesecake Factory. Your special request. You wanted to see what massive dessert they could bring you, and you like how they sing the happy birthday song. It was a good day, and a good year for you Mia. 

We love you.

Mommy

Zoe - Violin Recital - January 2015

Zoe, your first violin recital was scheduled shortly after we returned from vacation in Turks and Caicos (hence the braided hair). Your teacher organized the recital so that kids stood up and played any songs they knew, and as the music difficulty progressed, students sat down in the first few rows if they didn't know the upcoming song. This was a really empowering and non-threatening approach, and it made it easy for you to participate even though you had just begun lessons a few months earlier. I was impressed that you could play as many songs as you could, and you were inspired by watching the students who had played longer play so beautifully. When the recital was over, you went  home and immediately began to practice, excited to try the songs that came next.

Zoe in the blue

Ice at the National Harbor

Every year, "at the Gaylord National Resort at the National Harbor, a winter wonderland is created entirely of 5,000 blocks of ice weighing 2 million pounds. It is hand-sculpted by 40 international artisans from Harbin, China and kept at nine degrees Fahrenheit." "The artisans arrive in mid-October, staying onsite for more than 30 days, to build and hand-carve the attraction." This year's theme was frosty the snowman, and most sculptures were of frosty doing fun things.

When guests arrive and check in, they're all given heavy coats to wear over all their other layers in order to stay warm enough to enjoy the event. I wasn't particularly excited about Ice in general because I hate to be cold, but we were dressed really well and with the extra coats provided, we were comfortable. Also, it was beautiful. 

In addition to the sculptures, there is a two-story ice slide and an area where we could watch the artisans carving ice which they do throughout the exhibit to make repairs over the course of the event. Interestingly, the ice tends to evaporate directly to a gas causing the need for repairs. It doesn't go from  ice to a liquid first. Afterwards, we all enjoyed some hot chocolate before heading home.

Sophie on the slide.

Zoe on the slide.

Mia on the slide.

Mia and Zoe on the ice train.

All bundled up.

Great Grandpa Milton and Existentialism

The girls spontaneously bring up Grandpa Milton. They want to know how he's feeling, and they'll often write him a letter to tell him so. Yesterday, Mia and Sophie were playing "artist". They took turns drawing on the chalkboard and then talking about what they had each drawn. Out of the blue, Mia stops to write Grandpa a letter.

It read: "Dear Grandpa Milton. I hope you are feeling better.! I can't wait to see you. Happy New Year. Sincerely Mia. You are the best. You rock. You are just so awesome."

Mia looked at me after and asked when we'd see Grandpa Milton next, and I replied that we'd likely see him next at his birthday in June. I reminded her that he'd be 100 years old then.

At this Sophie shrieked "No! I don't want him to be 100. 100 is really old and then he will get sick and die. I want him to start over again at 1."

We have conversations on this theme every so often now. Conversations about mortality with four and six year olds really shine a light on how black and white .... and gray the whole topic is. What happens when he dies? Will I die? Will you die? Why do we die? What is heaven? Is it real?

There really should be a school for parenting.

Sisters